The UK is saddled with a huge pile of debt. Interest payment on debt alone is £44bn a year. That's derived from £150bn in government loans to meet the £697bn spending shortfall. £44bn with today's exchange rate will buy Malaysians 36 PLUS north-south expressways EVERY YEAR!
*It has been announced an hour ago that £1bn will be set aside for the “world’s first carbon capture and storage demonstration project”. A further £200M will be set aside for offshore wind, specifically for the development of port sites to allow the construction of turbines.
Osborne, UK Chancellor, has put £1bn into a Green Investment Bank, “the first time anybody has ever been in favour of such a bank”, he said.
More funds would come from the private sector and the sale of government assets, he said. The aim was to make the UK a leader in the green economy.
Overall the government budget on energy and to tackle climate change is trimmed 18%. The axe has also fallen on renewable energy projects seen as "not being strategic" to UK's energy policy like the tidal barrage on the Severn estuary.* The project has been scrapped.
On spending cuts in other areas, Osborne said he would “ruthlessly prioritise” capital spending on transport, green energy and the science base and that no stone would be left unturned in the search for waste.
*Information adapted from BBC News and New Civil Engineer
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